William f



(No Model.)

w. P. z. DBSANT. v ELECTRICAL RAILWAY SIGNALING APPARATUS.

No. 460,524. Patented Sept. 29, 1891.

m 331 M abbowog A fiewe EM & f A l A A w UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM F. Z. DESANT, OF NEYV YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRICAL RAILWAY SIGNALING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 460,524, datedSeptember 29, 1891.

' Application filed September 26, 1890. Serial No. 366,267. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. Z. DESANT, a citizen of the United.States, residing in New York, county of New York, and State of NewYork, have made a new and useful invention in Electrical RailwaySignaling Apparatus, of which the following is a specifica- ....tion.

A visual signal which always indicates danger to the engineer at theentrance of each block unless the block in advance is clear, in whichevent the signal is caused to indicate safety as the train enters theblock; second, to control visual signals of this type solely through theagency of electrical appliances, and, third, the accomplishment of theseveral features hereinafter referred to, all of which objects areeffected through the agency of the apparatus which I shall now proceedto describe, and which is particularly specified in the claims whichfollow this description.

Referring to the drawings, in all of which like letters and numerals ofreference represent like parts wherever used, Figure 1 is a plan ordiagrammatic View showing two adj acent blocks of my improved apparatusas attached to a doubletrack railwaythat is to say, a railway on whichtraffic is always in the same directionthe apparatus shown in Fig. 1being duplicated with signaling devices arranged for display through theagency of trains running from right to left. Such an arrangement beingobvious, it is not deemed necessary to illustrate the second track here.Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of my improved semaphoric or .visual signalwith its operative attachments Fig. 3 is a plan view of the apparatusillustrated in Fig. 2 as seen looking from the top of the drawing to thebottom thereof. Fig. 4 is a detail plan view of the electromagneticswitching apparatus for controlling the operation of the signals.

The general arrangement of the circuits through the two-part magnet M(shown in Fig. 4) is not materially unlike that disclosed in a priorpatent, No. 398,613, granted to Horace F. Hayden and myself on the 26thday of February, 1889; and the present invention is-directed, mainly, tothe adaptation of the block system of circuits therein disclosed inconnection with cab-signals as applicable to visual signals at the endof each block, the cab-signal not being herein shown nor constitutingany part of this invention.

In adapting the general system of blockcircuits disclosed in patent toHayden and Desant, above referred to, for use with semaphorical signalsI have so arranged the semaphores that under normal conditions, whenthere are no trains upon the track, the semaphoric arms are in ahorizontal or extended position, and the circuits andcircuit-controlling arrangements are such that when a train enters agiven block the semaphore at the entrance of that block, if there is nopreceding train upon it, will immediately be raised to a verticalposition, indicating safety, but should there be a preceding train inthe block or a break between the rails or in the electrical circuit atany point the semaphore will then remain at its lowermost position, thusindicating to the engineer that he must not advance.

E E are signal or semaphoric posts, the former located near the entranceof the first block 1 and the other near the entrance of block 2, thepresumption being that the trains are passing from right to left in thedirection of the arrows as they enter block 1 2 3, &c., in succession.

M M are switch-magnets secured near the top of the semaphoric posts andprovided with double or tilting armature-levers A and A, as shown.

to w are conductors, which pass from the distant ends of the oppositerails of the track through the upper portion of the two-partswitch-magnet M and w w are similar wires running from similar points atthe distant end of block 2 through the upper portion of.

magnet M in block 2 and the lower portion of magnet M in block 1. Thesuccessive sets of blocks are all joined in this manner, so that theyare electrically connected together in pairs.

10 10 are conductors joining the opposite diagonal rails of each pair ofblocks, and the batteries 13 B B are connected on one side to the endsof the parallel, main, or block rails and on the other side to the shortsectionsof rails R, all of said rails being Well insulated and havinginsulated joints at their ends.

On the tops of the signal-posts E and E are located pivoted semaphores SS, each semaphore being provided with a gear-wheel G, which meshes witha pinion N on the armature-shaft of any well-known form of electricmotor, said electric motor being in a normallyopen electric circuit 6 6,having a battery B A, the circuit being held open by an insulating-blockunder the springs s .9. (See Fig. 4.)

On the end of the semaphore-arm, near its pivotal point, is a mechanicalstop 1), adapted to come into contact with a fixed pin P when thesemaphore is raised to its vertical position of safety.

L is a balance-weight and lens, the latter of colored glass, adapted tolie in front of a lamp situated on a lamp-stand L as in wellknown formsof illuminated semaphores.

The operation is as follows: As long as there are no trains on the trackall of the semaphores S S, &c., remain in their lowermost positions,indicating danger. \Vhen a train enters block 1, proceeding from rightto left in the direction of the arrows, as soon as the first truckpasses over the insulated joints between the rails R R and the shortsection B the circuit of battery B is closed, as follows: through theshort section B, the axle of the front pair of truck-wheels to rail Rand to the distant end of block 1, to wire to, thence through the upperhalf of magnet M and by the return-wire 'w to the other rail R, back tothe entrance of the block, thence by wire 20 to the rear set oftruck-wheels and axle, and finally through them to the other pole of thebattery. If there is no train preceding the incoming train in block 1,the armature A of magnet M will be tilted forward, the insulating-blockremoved from under the springs s s, and the metallic portion of thearmature-lever brought into electrical contact with said springs,thereby closing the local circuit of the battery B A through the motor Mand causing it to lift the semaphore S. The semaphore S is thereforeraised to its uppermost position through the agency of the motor M,energized by the local battery B A, and it remains in this verticalposition during the entire time that this train is passing over block 1,so that should a succeeding train come to the entrance of block 1 duringthe time that the aforesaid train is passing over it the engineer ofthis succeeding train will perceive that the semaphore is in a verticalposition and that therefore a train is within the block and that he mustnot enter. As soon as the front truck-wheels of the preceding train passout of block 1 the circuit from battery B is made through the axles andwheels, as before, to the rails R of block 2 and throughthe wires tothrough the upper half of the magnet M and the lower half of the magnetM thereby causing the armaturelevers A and A to tilt, the former to theleft and the latter to the right, thus causing the motor M, energized bythe battery B A, to elevate the semaphore S of block 2 and at the sametime breaking the circu"; of battery B A through the motor M, therebyreleasing the semaphore S and allowing it to return to its normalposition, so that the engineer of the train now standing at the entranceof block 1 may proceed, while the train upon block 2, having setsemaphore S to its vertical position, will again restore said semaphoreto its horizontal position when it passes out of said block in the samemanner that the semaphore S was restored to its horizontal position whenpassing out of block 1. hen the signal S reaches its extreme upwardlimit, the stop 1) comes in contact with a pin I, which prevents furtherrotation of the gear-wheel G. The same stop will also act as alimitation to the downward motion of the semaphore.

I am aware that semaphores have heretofore been actuated by electricmotors, and I make no claim to such a construction as broadly includesthe combination of an electric motor and a semaphore or visual signal.

I do not limit myself to the specific construction of parts andarrangement of ch cults herein enumerated, as the apparatus may be verymaterially modified and still come within the scope of my claimshereinafter made.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In a system of electrical block-signals, sets of insulated railsconnected together in diagonal pairs, one set being in one blockand theother setin an adjacent block, in combination with avisual signal foreach block and a two-part magnet adapted to control each' signal, oneportion of said two-part magnet being connected to the ends of the railsof one block and the other to the ends of the rails of the nextsucceeding block in advance, substantially as described.

2. In a system of block-signals, two lines of insulated rails locatedone in each of two adjacent blocks and electrically connected to getherat the junction of the two blocks bya diagonal conductor, as 00 incombination with parallel insulated rails and electricallycontrolledsemaphores, each semaphore having a two-part electro-magnet connectedelectrically with adjacent blocks, and a local circuit and a motor forcontrolling the action of the semaphore, substantially as described.

3. A block system consisting of electrically insulated rails connectedtogether in diagonal pairs, so as to constitute a block, a batteryconnected to said rails and through additional conductors toswitch-magnets located at the opposite ends of the block, a semaphore ateach end of the block, having each local-circuit connections through alocal electrical generator, and an electric motor geared to thesemaphore, substantially as described.

4. A semaphore consisting of a balanced pivoted arm carrying agear-wheel geared to the armature of an electric m0tor,havin glocalcircuit connections through a local generator of electricity, and aswitch-magnet located in a main-line circuit, consisting of a conductorjoining the adjacent ends of a pair of insulated rails, the other end ofone of said rails being connected to a parallel rail in an adjacentblock, whereby the operations of said switch-magnet may be controlled bypassing trains, substantially as described.

7 WM. F. Z. DESANT. Witnesses:

GEO. H. STAYNER, J12, A. V. HINEY.

